Linoln joins in on basketball court renovation projects

LOWER OXFORD – Now in its forties, Lincoln University’s Manuel Rivero Hall has reached middle age and this summer it is undergoing its first serious makeover.

The main indoor athletic complex on campus, Rivero Hall features a gymnasium, Olympic-size swimming pool, eight-lane bowling alley, classrooms, offices, locker rooms and training facilities. But the initial phase of Rivero’s renovation is focusing solely on the gymnasium, which has been the home venue for Lions’ basketball since the building opened in 1972.

“These bleachers and the floor have not been replaced in 42 years,” said LU Athletic Director Dianthia Ford-Kee, whose office is housed in the building. “They did the basic things of having someone come in every two to three years and varnish the floor in addition to painting, but that’s about it.”

When this phase is completed, hopefully by the end of the month, Rivero Gymnasium will boast a new wooden floor, modern bleachers, new lighting, and something less tangible but highly noticeable: a brand new athletic logo.

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“When our students, faculty and fans first enter, it will be hard not to notice the new bleachers and the shiny new floor, but I also think they will take note of our new logo,” Ford-Kee predicted. “I am sure that will catch the eye.”

Bidding on the project took place earlier this year and Miller Flooring of West Chester was eventually hired to complete the current portion of the renovation. The company is also working on the restoration of West Chester University’s Hollinger Field House and recently finished a similar project at Widener.

“When we had damage done to our floor after a concert, I was given (Miller’s) contact information,” Ford-Kee said. “They came in, took a look and fixed it. We did some further research and found out they’ve been in the business of doing this type of work for quite some time.”

Originally called Alumni Memorial Gymnasium, the building was renamed in 1986 in honor of former Athletic Director Manuel Rivero, who was previously a baseball star at Columbia and worked at Lincoln from 1933-77. It was home to the university’s athletic department and health, physical education and recreation department for four decades. Last fall, HPER moved into the new $28 million/105,000 square foot Health and Wellness Center.

According to Ford-Kee, the price tag for this phase of the renovation is estimated to be about $600,000. It was approved in 2012 but the start date had to wait until this summer because Rivero Hall is a busy place during the academic year.

“That’s why you see a surge of business for folks like Miller Flooring during this time of year,” she said.

“The inside of the gymnasium was the top priority. After that, we are going to prioritize the areas that need to be done in the next phase. We didn’t want to do all of the renovations at one time because we are hoping not to be displaced out of the building.”

Adding an athletic weight room and renovations to the locker rooms and auxiliary gym are in the future plans but work probably won’t begin on that phase until at least 2014.

With no aisles, the old bleachers were outdated. And without proper railings, they were potentially dangerous. In addition, the old floor had been sanded and refinished numerous times, and its lifespan was extended far beyond what is recommended.

The new capacity of the gym will come in slightly under the former total of 2,000.

“We are going to lose some seating with the addition of aisles,” Ford-Kee said. “But we’ve added some seating in our student section, which is along the end zone area.”

The renovation of Rivero comes at a time of growing interest in basketball at Lincoln. The men’s program captured the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Northern Division crown last winter, marking the school’s first team title in any sport since making the move from NCAA Division III to II and joining the CIAA in 2010.

Under third-year head coach John Hill, the 2012-13 Lions went 17-10 overall, the best season since the 2007 squad advanced to the Division III Sweet 16. The record over the next five years plummeted to 31-103 and bottomed out when former head coach Garfield Yuille resigned after being implicated for using ineligible players by the NCAA. The investigation led to 17 penalties, including three years’ probation, which expired in May.

And the women’s program is making strides under head coach Jessica Kern. She is 17-40 in two seasons, which equals the win total from the previous four campaigns combined.

“This renovation is an effort to reduce liability and reduce injuries,” Ford-Kee pointed out. “Now that basketball has risen to the occasion around here, more people are coming out to games and we need to make sure we’re not putting ourselves or our fans in harm’s way.

“Plus, it should be a recruiting tool. We want all of our students and prospective students to feel at home here. We want to make sure this is a place where they like to be.”